A gateway to discovering and tracking the descendants of the original New Netherland Brouwer progenitors, namely Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, Jan (or Johannes) Brouwer of Flatlands and Willem Brouwer of Beverwijck (Albany). As well as some diversions covering other Brewer and Brower families with origins in Colonial America

Sunset at Gowanus Bay

Sunset at Gowanus Bay, Henry Gritten, 1851

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Adam Brouwer and Magdalena Verdon had fourteen children born between the years of 1646 and 1673.* Their children were given the names Pieter, Matthys, Willem, Marretje, Jacob, Fytie, Helena, Adam, Aeltje, Anna, Abraham, Sara, Rachel and Nicholas. The names in bold face have been written in that manner for a reason that will soon be evident.

Onomastics is defined as the study of the origin, history and use of proper names. In the context of genealogical research the term is often used to describe the technique of using proper names as clues to, or even evidence of, a relationship between two families. Those with some experience in researching the families of 17th century New Amsterdam and colonial New York and New Jersey, know that a common naming custom was for a couple to name their first son for the child's paternal grandfather, and to name the second son for the child's maternal grandfather. Likewise, the first daughter was named for her maternal grandmother, and the second daughter for her paternal grandmother. As colonial period families were often large, proper names given to younger children often were taken from the parent's siblings, and from the parents themselves. This naming custom, however, does not always hold hard and fast. There are, as any prudent researcher would recognize, exceptions to every rule or custom. When naming children (using the just described custom) one common exception is that the occurrence of a deceased relation, whether they be a parent or sibling, is often a reason for altering the customary pattern. For example: if at the time of the birth of the first son, the maternal grandfather is deceased but the paternal grandfather is living, the child may be named for the deceased maternal grandfather. The same may happen if a sibling of one of the parents is deceased. The name of that sibling (aunt or uncle to the newborn child) may be used prior the use of the name of the child's grandparent. Often if a child dies at a young age, his or her name will be given to the next child born of the same sex. And occasionally we find cases where a couple simply chooses, for reasons probably known only to themselves, not to follow the custom at all, or only partially.** Even with exceptions, however, proper names found common to different families (who share the same surname) can point towards a relationship between those families, or at the least, provide a reason for additional research into the possibility of a relationship.

We know that Adam Brouwer's wife, Magdalena Verdon, was the daughter of Jacob Verdon and Maria Badie. Of the fourteen children of Adam and Magdalena, one is named Jacob and another Marritje (Maria/Mary). The two where certainly named for Magdalena's parents. It is reasonable to believe, or at least work with the assumption, that among the twelve remaining children there is a likelihood that we will find the names of Adam's parents. We may also find the names of some of his and Magdalena's siblings.***

With all this in mind we now turn back to the Cologne Church records as indexed at FamilySearch, with a focus on the Roman Catholic churches with records from the first half of the 1600s. Using the searchable database, Deutschland Geburten und Taufen 1558-1898 (Germany Births and Baptisms 1558-1898) and searching with BROUWER, BROWER, BREWER, BRUER in the "Last Name" field, results for one particular family stood out. This was the family of Mathias BROWER, whose surname was rendered variously as BROWER, BREWER, BREUWER, BROUNEER and BREMERS (the last two are likely errors in transcribing by Family Search indexers), and his wife Anna Schonckx, whose name was spelled variously as SCHOECKEN, SCHONCK, SCHOUCHS, SCHIMCK, SCHONCH, SCHUNCK, with her proper name sometimes given as Entgen. The couple had ten children baptized between 1606 and 1628, all in Sankt Peter Katholisch Kirche (St. Peter's Catholic Church). The microfilm from which the baptisms was taken was FHL film #187143. Filtering the search with this film number makes it easier to find each record. Their children were named (in chronological order) Joannes (Johannes), Guilhemus (Latin equivalent of Willem), Ayltgen (Aeltie), Henrich, Nicolaes, Margarietha, Johannes (second), Petrus (Pieter), Mathias, and Otto. Unfortunately no child named Adam (of course finding one would make this all too easy). However, the fact that six of the twelve names found in this Cologne family (Mathias, Anna, Guilhemus, Ayltgen, Nicolaes, Petrus) are also found among the fourteen names found in the family of Adam Brouwer and Magdalena Verdon (Matthys, Anna, Willem, Aeltie, Nicholas, Pieter) is reason enough to investigate this Cologne family further. (Here is a summary of the family in PDF format).+

Back to the Germany Birth and Baptism index, a second family now catches my attention. It is the family of Henrich Brower and Magdeleyn Von Bonn. The records of baptism for three children are found. The children are named Mathyss, Daniel and Agnes. As Henrich named a son Matthyss, and Mathias (above) named a son Henrich, both in the same church and within the same time frame, it can be strongly suspected that Henrich and Mathyss are brothers. A record of the marriage of Henrich and Magdeleyn in the Sankt Peter Katholisch Kirche is not found. However, Magdeleyn's surname, Von Bonn, leads to another family of interest in the baptism records for Sankt Peter's church (see below). What became of this relatively small family cannot be ascertained from the baptism records alone. Unfortunately death records for Sankt Peter Katholisch Kirche were not filmed (if they survived) by the Genealogical Society of Utah. Filmed death records (Tote) begin in 1738 (see FHL film #187147). Perhaps both Henrich and Magdalena died soon after the baptism of their last known child. Or perhaps they relocated. Perhaps there were other children, maybe baptized elsewhere, who names we do not yet know. Or, could other children be in the same records, but hidden under a different name?

There is a second Von Bonn family that may be of interest. Here is the baptism record of Adam, son of Henrich Von Bonn and Magdalena Von Bonn with the date 25 May 1615.This couple had eight children baptized in the Sankt Peter Katholisch Kirche between 1608 and 1622. Here is a summary of the family. A marriage record for Henrich and Magdalena is not found in the Germany Marriages (Deutschland Heiraten), 1558-1929 database when filtering for the Sankt Peter records (FHL film #187144). In a couple of the baptism records one or both of the parents is recorded with the surname as Bonnensis. This is the Latin equivalent for "of Bonn," or "Von Bonn" in German. It could be that Von Bonn is Magdalena's maiden name, and the couple may have been cousins. It could have also been a place name. Perhaps both were from, or born in Bonn, and they had different surnames.
Now the names of the children in this family, with the exception of Adam, do not match the names of the children in the family of Adam Brouwer and Magdalena Verdon. I bring attention to this family because the wife of Henrich Brower (above) was also named Magdalena Von Bonn, and here is contemporaneous Von Bonn family with a mother named Magdalena Von Bonn, and a child named Adam. I wonder if there were two women named Magdalena Von Bonn in this congregation, or if the two are one in the same (meaning there was only one Magdalena Von Bonn). Could Magdalena have first married Henrich Von Bonn and then married Henrich Brower? Or, could Henrich Von Bonn and Henrich Brower be one and the same, appearing in the same set of records with different surnames (Von Bonn being a place name, and Brower a surname)? Was Henrich Brower simply from Bonn? For now, it is something to keep in mind, and perhaps something to look into further.

A couple of caveats: The indexes that have been created and placed online by FamilySearch are just that - only indexes. The next step is to examine the complete records. There is likely more information within the full record, including the names of godparents which would be helpful in reconstructing extended families. For example, they might be able to tell us whether Mathias Brower and Henrich Brower were in fact brothers. Perhaps there is more to the marriage record of Mathias Brower and Anna Schonckx, like names of parents, witnesses, their ages. In addition there are other families with parents whose surname is BROWER found in the Sankt Peter Katholische Kirche records. They are not included here because in each case only one record of baptism for a child was found. Finally, baptism records alone often do not have all the answers. Probate and estate, notarial records, even land records in Cologne pertaining to the families mentioned above should be sought out and examined. There may be more answers there.

Adam Brouwer's ancestry and the identity of his parents remains unknown. In the past, some researchers (and I use the term loosely) have ventured guesses at identifying Adam's parents. These were based on nothing but a common surname (see "New Insight Into the Origins of Adam Brouwer" for an expansion on this). Above, and I believe for the first time, we at least have a family found in the city in which Adam Brouwer said he was born, from the time period in which he was born, that includes proper names also found in Adam Brouwer's own family (names HE gave to his children). It is not the final answer, but it is a viable start.

* Confirmed by baptism records of the Reformed Dutch Churches at New Amsterdam and Breuckelen, by Adam Brouwer's will, and by property conveyances between siblings. The 27 year span between the birth of Magdalena Verdon's first child (Pieter) and her last (Nicholas) is unusually long. It would support the argument that Magdalena was a teenager when she married Adam Brouwer, probably no older than sixteen and perhaps as young as thirteen as suggested by Harry Macy, Jr. in "Some New Light on Aeltje Braconie and Maria Badie," New York Genealogical and Biographical Record Vol. 142, pp. 21-36 (2011).

** Of Adam Brouwer's children, his sons Pieter, Matthys, Adam and Abraham, did NOT give the name Adam to any of their sons. Sons Pieter and Matthys each had for sons, and so had multiple opportunities to give a son the name Adam. Both Pieter and Matthys named their first sons for their wives' fathers, Uldrick and Pieter respectively. Adam Brouwer (Jr.) named is only known son for his wife's father, Hendrick. Abraham named his first son Jeury, for his father-in-law, and named his only other son for himself (Abraham). Of Adam Brouwer's seven daughters, five did not give a son the name Adam. A sixth, Adam's daughter Rachel, had only one known child, a daughter named Engeltje, notably not named for her mother Magdalena.

***Magdalena Verdon had one full sibling, a brother Thomas. That name is not found among the children of Adam and Magdalena. Her mother, Maria Badie, was married three times, and had children by all three husbands. The names of Magdalena's half-siblings are Arien, Willem, Christian (twice), Marritje, who were children of her mother and Willem Adriaensen (Bennet), and Catherine, Coenradt, Aeltje, Paulus, Hester and Isaac, children of her mother and Paulus Van der Beeck. Only the three in bold face are also found in Adam and Magdalena's family. The half-sibling Aeltje, was no doubt named for Maria Badie's mother, Aeltje Braconie (Magdalena Verdon's grandmother).

+Here is an interesting item on the Nationaal Archief, VOC Sea-voyagers website. It is the record of a Pieter Brouwer, from Ceulen (Cologne), employed as a mid-shipman beginning 16 September 1641, with the VOC (Dutch East India Company). He sailed on the Nassau from Amsterdam. The ship arrived in Batavia (now Indonesia) on 3 April 1642. However, Pieter Brouwer's date of termination was 31 March 1642, three days prior to arrival. A mid-shipman, according to the website, was a naval officer under training. Such a person was therefore likely in his late teens or early twenties. Could he have been the Pieter, son of Mathias Brower and Anna Schonckx, baptized on 9 February 1621 at Sankt Peter Katholische Kirche?

Monday, December 14, 2015

Family History Library film #187151 has the baptism (1602-1721) and marriage (1593-1803) records for the German Reformed Church of Cologne (Hoch-deutsche Reformierte Kirche Cölne). This was the second film I viewed and the results were the same as with the Cologne Dutch Reformed Church records (see the post of December 13, 2015). That is, no baptism record for an Adam Brouwer, and no records pointing to a family to which Adam Brouwer might belong.* Here is an image of one of the pages from this film:

FHL film #187151 Baptisms, 1619-1620, German Reformed Church, Cologne

The above image includes the records from the end of 1619 and most of those of 1620. In total there were 18 baptisms for the year 1620. There were 16 in 1619, and 20 in 1621. It is probable that the German church had a slightly larger congregation than the Dutch church, but would still have to be considered small in context of the overall population of Cologne in 1620.**

This film has been indexed by FamilySearch. It can now be searched online. I did so using the name BROUWER, and restricted the search to film #187151 by using the film number filter provided. The results bring up three records for the family name BRAUWER(S). Two are for a couple Wilhelm and Helena Brauwer who had two children (Johan and Margareta) baptized in May 1608. And a third record is for a couple Herman and Adriana Brauwers, who had a daughter Catrina baptized 26 January 1609. Searching with the name BROWER gives the same results. Searching with BREWER yields a daughter Bieltgen of Christoffel BREWER and Entgen Wiehsweilers baptized on 4 July 1594. Using BRUER, gives this same result. Searching with BERCKHOVEN finds two baptisms for a couple named Johan and Anna BACHOFEN. Son Caspar was baptized on 26 March 1620 and son Abraham Balthasar was baptized on 24 March 1622. All in all, nothing here provides a worthwhile lead in searching for Adam Brouwer.

FHL film #187153 covers the Cologne French Reformed Church records (Französisch Reformierte Kirche Cöln), which include baptisms and marriages (1600-1802), and burials (tote) for 1740-1802. As of this post, this film has not been indexed by FamilySearch. My search of the film back in 2008 came up empty for anything that might resemble a record pertaining to Adam Brouwer. Cor Snabel has transcribed and placed online baptisms for the "Walloon Church in Cologne," which I would assume to be the same church that Genealogical Society of Utah called the French Reformed Church. Again, nothing is found here that would constitute a reasonable lead. While for the earlier years we find some years in which there was between ten and twenty baptisms, after 1618, there is generally ten or fewer baptisms per year. I did not bother to take an image of a page from this film.

The three Reformed Churches of Cologne provided no records or leads that could be associated with Adam Brouwer.

As mentioned the Genealogical Society of Utah has filmed baptism, marriage and in some cases burial records for eighteen Roman Catholic churches in Cologne. I do not know if this is all of them. It is possible that there were others that were not filmed. Renting and viewing eighteen films of records that may or may not have been indexed, was just not practical from the standpoint of both time and money. I did however, look at two films.

FHL film #187108 is baptism and marriage records for the period 1595-1753 for St. Kunibert's Roman Catholic Church (Katholische Kirche. Kunibertkirche Cöln). The handwritten records are in Latin, and so easier (at least for me) to understand. Here is a sample page, the first page for the year 1620:

Of the remaining sixteen Catholic churches, it appears that all but two have been indexed and included in the "Germany Births and Baptisms, 1558-1898" database at FamilySearch. The two that do not appear to have been indexed (at this time) are FHL film #187126, Sankt Lupus Catholic Church, and FHL film #187264, the Deutz Catholic Church.

To be continued.

*Just to cover all bases, I also searched for the name Berckhoven (and various possible spellings of the name) in each search. Although I'm of the belief that this was not the name of a family that Adam Brouwer was born into (see Origins of Adam Brouwer), in the interest of searching thoroughly, I kept an eye out for the name.

**I've seen estimates of a population of 40,000 for Cologne in 1600. Prof. Willem Frijhoff had suggested to me a population of about 30,000 for the time of these records.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Some background: Although the date on which Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, Long Island was born is not known, we do know that he was born in Cologne. The marriage banns for Adam Brouwer and Magdalena Verdon reads, "Adam Brouwer, j. m. Van Ceulen, en Magdalena Verdon, j. d. Van N. Nederlt."* The minister writing this record in 1645 was writing in Dutch and the preposition Van, as used in the vernacular of this time and place and in the context of these marriage records, referred to the place where the groom and bride were each born (as opposed to a place where each had lived). Adam Brouwer was born in Ceulen (a Dutch spelling of that time for Cologne) while Magdalena Verdon was born in New Netherland.

It is generally accepted that Adam Brouwer was born ca. 1620. This date is in line with his marriage in 1645, as young men during this period generally married in their mid to late twenties. He could have been born later than 1620, as the Reformed Dutch Church of the Netherlands allowed men as young as fourteen to marry**. However, we also know that Adam Brouwer was employed as a soldier with the WIC in 1641 and so likely at least age 16 in that year, so born no later than 1625. Adam Brouwer died during the first three months of 1692. If born in 1620 he would have been aged 72 at his death. There is no report of his age at death and so it is conceivable that Adam was born earlier than 1620, perhaps as early as 1610 (if so then 82 in 1692) or theoretically even as early as 1600 (if so then 92 in 1692). I take the time to run through this exercise for the purpose of finding a range of years in which to search in the Cologne church records for a baptism of a child who may be Adam Brouwer. Choosing a range of 1600 to 1625 should cover it.

Background on Cologne: In 1620, Cologne (Köln in German) was a free imperial city. That is to say, Cologne was self ruling but subject to the Holy Roman Emperor. It was not subject to the over-lordship of a Duchy or a Principality. It was subordinate only to the Holy Roman Emperor himself. It had been that way since before 1475 (in practical terms it was a free city as early as 1288) and would remain so until 1794 when annexed by France. In terms of political boundaries, in 1620 the city of Cologne was surrounded by the Archbishopric of Cologne, but the later had no authority within the city. Economically, Cologne in 1620, situated as it is on the west bank of the Rhine River, was an important city along the North Sea and Baltic Sea trade routes of the Hanseatic League, and at the time was one of the largest cities in northern Europe. In 1600 the city's population has been estimated at 40,000.

Cologne was in 1620, and for the most part in it's entire history, a predominantly Roman Catholic city. Churches of Protestant denominations, such as the Reformed Church of the Netherlands, were there, but they were the minority both in number of churches and in number of members. For evidence of this one only has to look at a list of Cologne Church records filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah and found in the Family History Library catalog. Just considering the churches on this list that existed in 1620, we can count three Protestant churches (Nederlands Hervormde, Hochdeutsche-Reformierte, Französisch-Reformierte), and eighteen Catholic (Katholische) churches. The Roman Catholic, Cologne Cathedral (the High Cathedral of Saints Peter and Mary), the largest Gothic church in northern Europe and the dominating land mark of the Cologne cityscape is physical evidence of the importance of Cologne as a Roman Catholic city. Construction began in 1248, was halted in 1473 and not resumed until the 1800s. It was completed to the original plans in 1880.

The initial search: As seven of Adam Brouwer's children were baptized in the Reformed Dutch Church in New Amsterdam/New York, which frankly between 1646 and 1672 was his only option, I chose to first search the records of the Protestant churches of Cologne for Adam Brouwer's own baptism.

My search was conducted back in 2008, prior to the creation of the FamilySearch website. Searchable indexes and digitized images of microfilmed record were not available online in 2008. Research consisted of ordering microfilm from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and then viewing the film on readers at a local FHL center. I began with FHL film #187154, which is the birth (taufen) and marriage (heiraten) records of the Reformed Dutch Church in Cologne (Nederlands Hervormde Kerk Cöln). The film covers the years 1571 to 1739. Here is an example of a page from the film:

A page from FHL film #187154

The above page includes a few entries from 1620. Not familiar with Dutch and having no previous experience with the handwriting of this period, I had the help of Prof. Willem Frijhoff who was introduced to me by William B. Bogardus, in translating and deciphering the format of each entry. Prof. Frijhoff's response was that although the handwriting of this period was often difficult, the records here were actually well written, and were in Dutch (as opposed to German). The minister performing the baptisms was Johannes de Mourcourt, and that the names of both parents, the christian name of the child, and the names of two witnesses were in each record. He also commented on the small number of baptisms as evidence that the Dutch Reformed community was very small. More importantly (to Adam Brouwer researchers anyway) the surname Brouwer, or any variation thereof (Brower, Bruer, Brewer) was completely absent from both the baptism and marriage records I viewed for the years 1600 to 1625.
In the years since 2008, FamilySearch has created many internet accessible searchable databases and many other image only databases, including one titled, "Germany Births and Baptisms, 1558-1898." This searchable database functions as an index to many of the birth and baptism records found within the modern day political boundaries of Germany. The churches of Cologne, now a city in present day Germany, are included in this database. However, not all of them have yet (as of this post) been indexed and included in the database. Among those not yet included is FHL film #187154 which I searched "the old fashion way" back in 2008. But we are fortunate in that Cor Snabel has transcribed baptisms from the Reformed Dutch Church in Cologne, for the years 1571 to 1650, and has placed them online at the "17th Century Hollanders" website created by Liz Johnson. Cor has also included an introduction. By using your web browser's search or "find" tool as search of Cor's transcriptions can easily be done using variations on the name Brouwer. Doing so confirms that are no baptisms records in which the name appears. Searching with the given names Adam, and Adolph (Adolf) does not provide any viable leads either. If you scroll down to the year 1620, you can count that only eight baptisms took place in that year. There were 12 in 1619, 10 in 1621. In the year 1639 in the New Amsterdam Reformed Dutch Church (the first year for which we have these records and when the colony was still quite small) there were only six baptisms***. In 1639 in Cologne's Dutch Reformed Church, there were only four. So, you can see, the Reformed Dutch congregation at Cologne in the early 1600s was in fact, small.

To honest, back in 2008 I did not expect to find the baptism record of Adam Brouwer in the Cologne Dutch Reformed Church records. That would have been too easy, and certainly someone over the course of the previous 100+ years would have looked there and reported something had it been found. But still, it would have been imprudent not to look myself. There are still two other Reformed Churches in Cologne - a German and a French church. And of course, there are eighteen Catholic churches to search through.

To be continued.

*Purple, Samuel S. Records of the Reformed Dutch Church in New Amsterdam and New York; Marriages from 11 December 1639 to 26 August 1801. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, reprint 2003, original 1890 NYG&BS, p. 13.
**Purple, Records of the Reformed Dutch Church in New Amsterdam and New York, p. vii, "according to the eminent Dutch historian Van Leuwen, 'that the persons who may contract a marriage must be young men above the age of fourteen years, and young women above the age of twelve years...'" See also, Harry Macy, Jr., "Some New Light on Aeltje Braconie and Maria Badie," New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, vol. 142, no. 1 (Jan 2011), pp. 21-36, who suggests that Magdalena Verdon may have been as young as age 13, when she married Adam Brouwer. If so, and it is possible and would imply that Magdalena was born ca. 1631, then I would suggest that the odds are that Adam Brouwer was born much closer to 1620, than 1600.
*** Evans, Thomas Grier (Ed.). Baptisms from 1639 to 1730 in the Reformed Dutch Church, New York. Collections of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, Vol. 2. New York: Printed for the Society, 1901, page 10. Of the six baptisms in 1639, three were families of Dutch origin, one belonged to free African-American family, one appears (to me) to have been Portuguese, and the sixth appears to have been either German or English ethnicity.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

On 20 Feb 1783, Samuel Brewer of Tyrone Twp., Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania sold to Benjamin Brewer of Huntington Twp., Westmoreland County, improvement on waters of Yough River between said river and Jacobs Creek, sw of lands of Samuel Whitsett, and se of lands of Moses Smith, n. of spring claimed by John Haselton. Witnessed by David Perry and Peter Bruin.

This deed is found in Westmoreland Co., Deeds Vol. A, page 328. The images below were taken from FHL film #929165 (see the FHL online catalog). The images are poor, but legible. They were taken with a hand held digital camera off a microfilm reader. FamilySearch.org has not yet made digital images of this film available online, and until they do so, the images here are the best I have. Please note that both images are of the same page. Perhaps one is better than the other.

Westmoreland Co. Deeds A:328

Westmoreland Co. Deeds A:328

In addition here are links to images of the same placed online, but off this website:

Samuel Brewer, the grantor in this deed, is a brother of Peter Brewer who was born between 1750 and 1760 probably in Sussex County, New Jersey. He died between 2 November 1840 and 19 April 1841 in Hardin County, Kentucky. Y-DNA testing of a descendant demonstrates that Peter Brewer is a genetic descendant of Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, Long Island. However, Peter Brewer's ancestry back to Adam Brouwer has still not been determined. The grantee in this deed, Benjamin Brewer, is strongly believed to be a brother of Samuel and Peter. Documentation supporting the belief that Benjamin is a brother of Samuel and Peter has not been found. Y-DNA testing of a direct male descendant of Benjamin Brewer would enable us to see is this belief is correct. We would ask interested descendants of Benjamin Brewer to contact us at the Brewer DNA Project. For more please see the post of November 16, 2013.